The BurmaNet News: October 11, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: October 11, 1999
Issue #13

Noted in Passing: "It is very rare for the target of a siege to become the
villain, and the junta should think hard why this is so." - The Bangkok Post
Editorial (see Junta Will Never Have our Sympathy)

HEADLINES:
==========
NATION: FULL ALERT AT BORDER AS TROOPS MASS
NATION: NABBED SUSPECT MAY HOLD KEY TO HOSTAGE-TAKERS
BKK POST: SECURITY CHIEF WANTS STUDENT EXILES REMOVED
ASIAWEEK: BEHIND THE DRAMA AT MYANMAR'S EMBASSY
FEER: HOSTAGE SNUB
BKK POST: JUNTA WILL NEVER HAVE OUR SYMPATHY
NATION: PURSUING THE LONG, HARD ROAD TO A BETTER LIFE
NATION: SHAN SOLDIERS READY FOR THE COMING BATTLES
BKK POST: THAI, KAREN HELD IN MURDER/RAPE CASE
ANNC: INSURGENCY AND THE POLITICS OF ETHNICITY
*****************************************************

THE NATION: FULL ALERT AT BORDER AS TROOPS MASS
10 October,1999

FOLLOWING the recent hostage drama at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, the
chief of the district where the holding centre for Burmese dissidents is
located imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on a border village following a report
that about 700 Burmese soldiers had concentrated close to the Thai border.

Somdee Kachayangyuen, district chief of Suan Phung in Ratchaburi province,
said the authorities had announced a daily curfew from 6 pm to 6 am in
Banthamhin village to protect over 300 families residing there. It happened
after it had been reported that Burmese troops were approaching the holding
centre in the Banthamhin area in Suan Phung, which houses about 8,000
Burmese refugees.

He said an intelligence unit anticipated that the junta's military could
soon start combat operations against the troops of the separatist Karen
National Union (KNU), which the Burmese authorities suspected of sheltering
the freed hostage-takers.

Tensions along the Thai-Burmese border have risen since five armed Burmese
dissidents raided the Burmese Embassy and took 89 hostages to air their
political agenda two weeks ago. The occupation ended with the Thai
government giving the captors safe passage and providing them with a
helicopter.

''We have heard from our intelligence unit that the Burmese troops have been
approaching the Mae Pia Lek checkpoint, which is a stronghold of the KNU,''
Somdee said.

A Karen National Union officer, who asked not to be named, said yesterday
that about 700 Burmese soldiers had been concentrated in an area over the
border from Suan Phung district where the five armed Burmese students who
stormed the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok are reportedly taking refuge.

According to the officer, a KNU unit near the Thai-Burmese border had
intercepted a Burmese army radio message about the move.

>From the message it was known that Burmese government troops were heading
towards Kamaplaw, an area close to where the five gunmen had reportedly
taken refuge, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to the officer, another unit is believed to be heading towards the
KNU's 4th Brigade area, over the border from Kanchanaburi.

A Thai official source revealed that Infantry Division 9 had been put on
full alert after reports that more than 500 junta soldiers had been deployed
in the area over from Kanchanaburi.

There are no reports of fighting yet, he said.

Somdee said that Thai officials had relocated people living in the area to a
safe place and that the authorities would thoroughly check people crossing
the border to make sure that they were not carrying weapons.

Somdee said he had also instructed the official in charge of Banthamhin
Holding Centre to closely monitor the activities of the Burmese refugees
there.

*****************************************************

THE NATION: NABBED SUSPECT MAY HOLD KEY TO HOSTAGE-TAKERS
9 October, 1999 by Yindee Lertcharoenchok

THAI authorities are hopeful that an arrested key Burmese suspect would
provide major clues leading to the capture of the five heavily-armed
Burmese -- and possibly other collaborators -- in the daring siege last week
of the Burmese embassy and 89 hostages.

Aung Soe, who was arrested shortly after the armed raid on Oct 1, was found
carrying a dark-coloured sports bag carrying the attackers' demand leaflets,
a number of the ''9999'' red headband, a flag, some music note sheets and
''a diary book'' which contained a laid-out plan of the armed operation,
said informed sources.

One of the sources said Aung Soe, who is a former resident of the Maneeloy
holding centre for Burmese asylum-seekers in Ratchaburi province, is still
being detained for further questioning and for more information that
authorities hoped could lead to the identification of the assailant group.

The sources said the authorities now believe that there were at least ''five
more Burmese collaborators'', including Aung Soe, who were the supporting
back-up team to the actual raiders that held the hostages for 25 hours
before releasing them in return for their safe escape to the western border.

Through the uncut embassy telephone connection, the assailants, armed with
AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles and hand grenades, had been in touch with
their collaborators outside the compound for information on Thai
counter-siege operations, said the sources.

At one point during the takeover on Oct 1, the leader of the militant group,
Kyaw Ni or Johnny, demanded that Aung Soe be brought to the embassy, but it
turned out that another Aung Soe from Maneeloy centre was taken to the
scene. Kyaw Ni, about 30, fired a volley of shots from his machine gun.

According to one source, Kyaw Ni had been demanding Aung Soe's sports bag,
which the authorities eventually returned to him early the following day
after copying the contents of the diary.

As of yesterday, the authorities were still trying to establish the
identities of the attackers, who called themselves ''Vigorous Burmese
Student Warriors''. Government agencies have come up with different lists of
the five gunmen and were still cross-checking them with information provided
by the Burmese and foreign hostages.

It is not yet known how much information the arrested Aung Soe had provided
to the police.

So far the authorities were certain that two of the attackers were Kyaw Ni
and Myint Thein or Beda (water hyacinth), who used to earn his living by
singing at some Bangkok cafes. The police yesterday placed eight criminal
charges against the armed group.

Speaking at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand on Thursday night,
Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra tried to clarify Deputy Prime
Minister Sanan Kachornprasart's statement that he considered the assailants
''students activists who fight for democracy'' in Burma and not
''terrorists''.

Sukhumbhand said what Sanan meant was that the group members were not
''professional international terrorists'' but that ''their act was one of
terrorism''.

The clarification was seen as an attempt by the Thai government to appease
the Burmese junta who, while officially thanking Thailand for its success in
resolving the hostage crisis, had allowed its senior officers and
government-controlled media to criticise the Thai rescue operation and
accused the Thai military intelligence of being involved in the embassy
seizure.

Sukhumbhand said although there was a void in the Thai legal system as far
as international terrorism is concerned, Thailand would proceed to prosecute
the armed group which ''had committed a crime against the Thai law''.

*****************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: SECURITY CHIEF WANTS ALL STUDENT EXILES REMOVED
9 October,1999 by Yuwadee Tunyasiri

The National Security Council has urged the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees to send all exiled Burmese students in Thailand under its care
to a third country.

Kachadpai Burusapatana, secretary-general of the NSC, said yesterday the
Burmese students were not Indochinese refugees and there was no need to ask
them whether they would be willing to go to a third country.

He maintained all exiled Burmese students in Thailand were actually illegal
immigrants but were granted temporary stay on humanitarian grounds.

"But since some of them have caused trouble here, they should all be sent to
a third country," Mr Kachadpai said, apparently referring to last week's
armed takeover of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok by five hardline Burmese
students.

Because of its proximity to Burma, he said, Thailand could not afford to
allow the exiled students to engage in political activities against the
Rangoon government.

"But they can do so in some western countries that have no problems with
Burma," he added.

According to the UNHCR, there are about 2,700 exiled Burmese students under
its care, with some 1,000 being housed at the Maneeloy camp in Ratchaburi
and the rest scattered around in Bangkok.

But the NSC said about 1,700 students are now under UNHCR care, with another
900 students still unaccounted for and believed living illegally in Bangkok.

Mr Kachadpai said the 900 Burmese students must report to the UNHCR for
registration or face tough legal action as illegal immigrants.

On top of the exiled students, he said, about 150,000 displaced Burmese have
taken refuge on Thai soil along the border.

"These Burmese should return home once the situation in Burma returns to
normal." The NSC chief yesterday met the UNHCR representative in Thailand,
Jahanshah Assadi, to discuss the future of exiled Burmese students.

Mr Kachadpai has called on Sadako Ogata, the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees, to begin a dialogue with Rangoon on the problem of Burmese
asylum-seekers.

According to the Foreign Ministry, Mr Kachadpai asked Ms Ogata to visit
Rangoon in person and to ensure a continuation of the dialogue.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR yesterday completed the relocation of 7,120 Burmese
refugees from Huay Kalok Camp to a safer site inside Thailand.

They were transported 95km to Umpium Camp, located 13km from the border and
"situated in terrain that affords a degree of natural protection".

*****************************************************

ASIAWEEK: BEHIND THE DRAMA AT MYANMAR'S EMBASSY
15 October, 1999 by Roger Mitton

Thailand is home to thousands of Myanmar exiles who have fled the military
regime back home. Among diplomats at the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok are
several with a military background, including ambassador Hla Maung. Security
at the mission is notoriously lax and the Myanmar side has long complained
to the Thais in vain. The single - often dozing - Thai policeman inside the
unlocked main gate would wave visitors through without even a cursory check,
despite the embassy being a high-risk one and the fact that most disaffected
Myanmar exiles live in border camps where weapons are easily available.
Putting these factors together, it is surprising that the armed takeover of
the embassy on Oct. 1 did not occur earlier.

When it did happen, it was with evident ease. Five masked youths brandishing
automatic rifles and grenades stormed a side-entrance and occupied the
compound within minutes, taking diplomats and visa applicants as hostages.
What followed was a wild and wacky 24-hour siege that fortuitously ended
without bloodshed. As both terrorists and hostages made and received phone
calls from outside, the Thai authorities belatedly scrambled into action. An
adjacent office building was taken over as a command center and the street
outside was shut to normal traffic - though journalists and curious
onlookers, including tourists, had no difficulty getting close to the scene.

Conflicting reports filtered out about the number of terrorists and their
demands. No one seemed sure what was going on. But the Thais continued with
their haphazard and laidback negotiation. Surprisingly, it worked. A day
later, the terrorists exchanged their hostages for Thai Deputy Foreign
Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra and another official and then were flown by
helicopter to the Thai-Myanmar border where they were released to melt into
the jungle - presumably to celebrate a successful mission. But there was
plenty of criticism. Says political scientist Chayachoke Chulasiriwongs of
Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University: "The government has been letting these
people run around. How could you let somebody take machine guns and grenades
into the center of Bangkok? Really incredible. Ridiculous."

Myanmar's junta agrees. Says Brig.-Gen. Zaw Tun, deputy national planning
minister in Yangon: "They got away so easily. If that had happened in
Myanmar, they would have been punished." Still, it was evident the gunmen
were exasperated rebel students rather than clinical killers. That said,
there were reports - since denied by Thai officials quoted locally - that
the group's leader was involved in hijacking a Myanmar civilian aircraft 10
years ago. Says Soe Aung of the Bangkok-based All Burma Students' Democratic
Front: "These actions are the indications of the people's desperation; they
can't be tolerant any more."

Officially, all sides publicly condemned the assault, including Western
governments, mainstream Myanmar exile groups and even the National League
for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Sukhumbhand, a former academic
who has been having a torrid time as a first-term MP, emerged an unlikely
hero. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Interior Minister Sanan
Kachornprasart were also praised for their hands-on role in bringing a
peaceful end to the incident, though Sanan blotted his copybook by saying:
"We don't consider them to be terrorists. They are student activists who
fight for democracy."

A group of six or seven hostages felt the same way. Rather than praise the
Thais who had faciliated their release, they burst into wildly demonstrative
scenes of support for their former captors. They cheered, donned
revolutionary headbands and waved NLD and pro-democracy flags. This
performance and filmed scenes of some of them hugging their abductors lent
credence to allegations made by Yangon that collusion had occurred. But
Arthur Shwe of the National Council of the Union of Burma dismisses this.
Says he: "The hostages had nothing to do with it."

Yes or no, security at the embassy - and at other foreign missions in
Bangkok - is likely to be upgraded. And PM Chuan said the situation
regarding Myanmar exiles living in Thailand may need to be reviewed. Says
Chayachoke: "By us treating the students very leniently, it looks to the
Myanmar government that we are giving them support." But few expect
draconian action. As for relations between Bangkok and Yangon, bilateral
ties had been improving after the regime's leaders visited Bangkok in March
and then Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan went to Yangon and Mandalay
where he praised his counterpart Win Aung for teaching him "a lot about
history." He notably did not call on Suu Kyi. Now there could be a chill.
Says Zaw Tun: "We are a little bit angry."

Sanan's comment will not help. Even the exiles do not share this view. Says
Shwe: "It is natural they be branded terrorists. Their motive was good but
[not] their action." There is a fear of repeat acts and even a sense that
perhaps the five gunmen have shown the democracy activists the way of the
future. The NLD's non-violent credo has got it nowhere, and it may be hard
for the movement to convince young hotheads not to heed a call to arms.

*****************************************************

FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: HOSTAGE SNUB
14 October, 1999 by Bertil Lintner

BANGKOK'S SOFTLYSOFTLY APPROACH TO EMBASSY CRISIS HIGHLIGHTS ITS GROWING
IMPATIENCE WITH RANGOON

Thailand has been basking in international praise for its handling of the
24-hour hostage crisis at Burma's embassy in Bangkok. All 89 hostages
involved were released unharmed. Relations between Bangkok and Rangoon,
however, did not fare so well.

On October 1, the same day five dissidents seized the embassy demanding an
end to military rule in Burma, Rangoon sealed its entire border with
Thailand. Eyewitnesses say barricades were erected at the so-called
Friendship Bridge, the most heavily used crossing between the two countries.
Border crossings at Mae Sai in northern Thailand and Ranong in the south
were also closed.

More surprisingly, Burma dispatched battalions of troops to Tachilek,
opposite Mae Sai, and to several other points near the border. Three patrol
boats were seen deployed near Ranong. "This is not happening because of any
threat from the Burmese students. It's a show of force," says a senior
Western intelligence source. "They are showing their disapproval of what
they see as Thailand's tolerant attitude towards any kind of dissidents."

Those hoping the crisis might fade into the background after the dissidents
were flown to the Burmese border and released have been disappointed. The
episode revealed serious differences between Thailand and Burma in their
approaches to diplomacy and political conflict.

Thailand, which has long called for the world to engage Rangoon's generals
rather than isolate them, has had its patience tested by the spillover
effects of the junta's harsh regime -- steady streams of refugees and
narcotics crossing its border. That frustration seems to explain why Bangkok
took a softer line with the hostage-takers than Rangoon would have liked.

Thai Interior Minister Maj.Gen. Sanan Kachornprasart was careful not to
condone the hostage-takers actions, but he nonetheless referred to them as
"students fighting for democracy." A poll conducted by the Bangkok-based
thinktank Rajabhat Institute Suan Dusit on the day the crisis was resolved
showed that 32% of respondents in Thailand sympathized with the
hostage-takers.

Burma sees such matters as purely problems of "law and order." In a
statement issued immediately after the release of the hostages, the
government branded the perpetrators "criminals," whom "peace loving people"
would not tolerate. State-run Radio Rangoon told its listeners the
perpetrators had "robbed the ambassador's office of vast amounts of money,
in US and Singapore dollars, and other currencies."

The week's events clearly raised the profile of Burmese dissidents in
Thailand, but the results may be uncomfortable. They are likely to find
themselves being watched more closely, despite the authorities' kid glove
handling of the hostage crisis. "We are worried," says one such dissident,
who for years has been publishing a monthly journal critical of the regime
in Rangoon. "I think this incident will give us a much harder time in
Thailand."

*****************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: JUNTA WILL NEVER HAVE OUR SYMPATHY
8 October, 1999

EDITORIAL

It is often more difficult to cope with the aftermath of an event than the
event itself. This is certainly proving the case with last week's siege at
the Burmese Embassy. The subsequent measures announced by the government to
control Burmese students in Thailand have met with criticism from human
rights groups. Rangoon is dissatisfied with them and has threatened that
bilateral relations could be affected.

To drive home the point, Burma has closed its waters to Thai fishing boats.
It also has closed all checkpoints along the 2,100km land border. And while
the Burmese prime minister officially thanked Thailand for helping end the
crisis without loss of life, lower ranking officials and the Burmese state
media have blasted Thailand for nurturing terrorism.

Col Thein Swe, a former military attache in Bangkok, claimed armed terrorist
groups are operating inside 24 "so-called refugee camps" in Thailand, using
them as bases to launch attacks on targets inside and outside Burma. He
warned that relations with Burma risk being damaged unless security
arrangements are improved. And the state-run New Light of Myanmar daily even
charged that the Thai authorities and Western hostages were involved in a
conspiracy with the five dissidents to take over the embassy to embarrass
Rangoon.

The Thai government has denied all these allegations and put in place
measures for stricter controls on Burmese students and dissidents living in
Thailand. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is being asked
to speed up the resettlement of exiled Burmese students to third countries.

However, this must be voluntary and those choosing to stay in Thailand will
be treated as refugees. The local authorities also will immediately impose
stricter rules on dissidents living in Thailand, especially those 800
students housed at the Maneeloy holding camp in Ratchaburi and the 2,000-odd
students and other exiles living in Bangkok under the care of the UNHCR.

The problem is that no third country wants to take the students. That is why
they have been living in Thailand for the past 11 years since they fled the
brutal crackdown on pro-democracy forces in 1988. The dissidents, along with
some 120,000 ethnic minority refugees who fled the fighting inside Burma,
have been accepted by Thailand on humanitarian grounds.

The students and intellectuals, in particular, are not regarded as illegal
immigrants and cannot simply be pushed back across the border. Most would
suffer badly at the hands of those in power at home and Thailand would be
denounced for sending them to their death if we were to simply repatriate
them.

The Burmese military junta has the right to demand that Thailand take more
effective measures to safeguard its embassy and officials here. This is the
duty of the Thai government, and it already has admitted to failures in its
intelligence. But the Thai government can only provide the best security it
can. No country can be safeguarded totally against terrorist acts. Even the
superpowers have been unable to prevent desperate men taking desperate
action.

Rangoon is clearly overreacting to the embassy siege. It should be grateful
that Thailand was able to resolve things without any of its embassy staff or
any of the other hostages being hurt in anyway. Instead of sniping at
Thailand, a simple thank you would be welcome.

The problem is that the military junta is upset that instead of coming out
of this the victim and winning the sympathy of the Thai people and the world
community, it is again the villain. It is very rare for the target of a
siege to become the villain, and the junta should think hard why this is so.

The Thai people sympathise with the Burmese dissidents because they too have
fought a long struggle with military dictatorship before winning democracy.
The Burmese leaders would do well to realise that the tide of history is
against them and they would do well to help usher in democracy in their
country or be swept aside.

*****************************************************

THE NATION: PURSUING THE LONG, HARD ROAD TO A BETTER LIFE
10 October, 1999 by Don Pathan

MANEELOY, Ratchaburi -- Holding an 11-day-old girl in her arms and with her
husband by her side, Thin Zar Lwin stares into the camera as a photographer
takes a family picture.

But it will not be an ordinary family portrait that will be placed in a nice
frame and hung on the wall. The picture, said Aung Nway, will be sent to the
American Embassy in Bangkok as part of an application for political asylum
to a third country.

Husband Aung Nway left his family 10 years ago and went into the jungle
where he joined armed resistance groups which have been fighting the
military government in Burma for the past decade.

Like thousands of other university students who fled Burmese cities
following a military crackdown on pro-democracy groups in 1988, Aung Nway
joined up with dissident groups based along the rugged Thai-Burmese border.

Fear of persecution has prevented Aung Nway from returning to see his
parents.

''I don't know if my father is still alive,'' he said. His mother had died
shortly after his birth.

But after eight years of fighting for a cause which he still dearly believes
in, Aung Nway decided it was time to put down his rifle.

With a wife and baby girl at hand, the 32-year-old Burmese dissident is
hoping to be moved to the United States.

''It's in the best interest of my family,'' he said.

Added Thin Zar Lwin, his wife: ''We have some friends in America who have
been granted asylum but we don't know where they are.''

With their first-born child to look after, Thin Zar Lwin said her life is
now centred on the child's future.

''I want my child to grow up in a good environment. I would like her to be a
doctor some day,'' said the soft-spoken mother.

There are 1,028 asylum-seekers at the Maneeloy holding centre waiting to be
screened by foreign embassies. It is here where the couple met, got married
and gave birth to their child.

When asked why she chose physician as a profession for her child, Thin Zar
Lwin replied: ''It was a doctor who bought her into this world for free.''

Thin Zar Lwin said her child will grow up to know Burma and the sacrifices
and hardships that many of her people went through.

''I want her to tell about Daw Suu Kyi,'' she continued, referring to
pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

In spite of numerous setbacks for Suu Kyi with hundreds of her supporters
still jailed by the military, she, nevertheless, continues to be a rallying
point for a number of dissident groups.

And like the predicament of Suu Kyi, a lot of uncertainties lie ahead for
the couple.

''It's very difficult but we have no other choice. We don't know how long it
will be before we can leave this place.'' she said.

*****************************************************

THE NATION: SHAN SOLDIERS GET READY FOR THE COMING BATTLES
10 October, 1999

Up on a mountaintop about five thousand feet above sea level in remote
northeast Burma, around two hundred ethnic soldiers of the Shan State Army
prepare themselves for an upcoming graduation ceremony marking the
completion of their combat training.

Buddhist monks were invited to bless the troops, while a group of Shan women
from local villages lend a helping hand in preparing a big feast on the day
when these young men, most of whom seems to be way below 20, become full-
fledged soldiers.

For the past four months, the new members of the Shan State Army have been
taught how to carry out guerrilla warfare against the Burmese government
soldiers. Denied by the war the adolescent years of their lives, these young
men left their villages to join a movement that would dramatically shape the
rest of their lives.

In the near future, some of these recent graduates will be sent deep inside
the war-torn country as tar as the Salween River where ambushing government
troops, employing hit-and-run tactics, has long been the name of the game.

Some will not return to their base camp near the Thai border, but it is well
understood that there is a war going on and that they have chosen to be part
of it.

Many will tell outsiders that they are fighting for the liberation of their
homeland from the evil Burmese dictators. But for some Shans, seeing their
own people being rounded up at gunpoint by government soldiers, forcing them
to abandon their villages for what many described as concentration camps was
enough reason to pick up arms.

Human rights reports said government soldiers have forced ethnic villagers
living in sensitive areas to relocate to holding camps to prevent them from
giving support and supplies to rebel armies fighting the central government.

In spite of the great odds, the SSA, as well as other rebel armies,
continues to carry on their struggle, hoping to gain support from the
international community while at the same time trying to force the Burmese
generals to a political settlement.

But surrender, said SSA's leader col Yawd Serk, is out of the question.

The Thai-Burmese border is strung with scores of camps housing refugees who
have fled the Burmese military offensive which human rights groups and
survivors say has brought rape, torture and summary executions. About
100,000 Burmese refugees, most of whom are ethnic Karens, are currently
residing in these camps.

*****************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: THAI, KAREN HELD IN MURDER/RAPE CASE
9 October, 1999

A Thai man and two Karen were arrested after about 800 Burmese workers
rallied at a knitwear factory in Mae Sot yesterday in protest over the
murder of a colleague and the rape of three women.

The protesters gathered at the Hyatt Knitting Company, on the Mae
Sot-Umphang highway, after they learned that Min Chit Tu, 24, who was
recently fired, had been found murdered.

The victim's wife, San San Naing, an employee, and two other women who
resigned recently were also raped, allegedly by the three men, on Thursday
night.

About 80 policemen and paramilitary volunteers were rushed to the scene to
restore order.

Police said the four Burmese victims spent the night at a hut belonging to
Somrak Chantha, 36, after they left the company on Thursday.

Somrak came to see them during the night and asked to sleep with San San
Naing who politely refused, saying she was already married. He left but
returned with two Karen, who started beating up Min Chit Tu.

*****************************************************

ANNOUNCEMENT: BURMA: INSURGENCY AND THE POLITICS OF ETHNICITY - REVISED AND
UPDATED EDITION
8 October, 1999

BURMA: INSURGENCY AND THE POLITICS OF ETHNICITY by Martin Smith

REVISED & UPDATED EDITION

Burma remains a land in deep crisis. The popular uprising of 1988 swept away
26 years of military rule under General Ne Win in name only. The National
League for Democracy of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory in the
1990 election. But, as this book relates, the military remains in control
and the future of Burma looks more problematic than ever.

Through rare access to a diversity of Burmese sources and interviews with
many of the leading participants, Martin Smith charts the development of
modern political parties and analyses the complexities of the long-running
insurgencies waged by different opposition groups, including the Communist
Party of Burma, U Nu's Parliamentary Democracy Party, the Karen National
Union and a host of other ethnic nationality movements. The narrative
underscores how one of the most fertile and potentially prosperous countries
in Asia has collapsed to become one of the world's poorest - and with
economic and  humanitarian indicators to match.

This updated edition also contains a new section on the changing face of
Burma in the 1990s, with particular examination of the dilemmas of
transition, the emergence of Burma from decades of isolationism, the ethnic
cease-fire movement, and the continuing deadlock between the three key
groupings in contemporary politics: the Burmese armed forces, the resurgent
democracy movement and ethnic opposition groups. As the book describes, it
is in the reconciliation of such different perspectives and aspirations that
Burma's future is ultimately dependent in the 21st century.

'Martin Smith's book will for many years to come remain the starting point
for anyone wanting a comprehensive, informed analysis' - Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society

'This book is indispensable for Burma's future leaders... It must be
considered, to date, the definitive work on what is indeed the central
problem in Burma' -  Pacific Affairs

Martin Smith is a leading authority on Burmese politics. He has spent two
decades researching the subject, has reported extensively on Burma and has
made several TV documentaries on the subject.

August 1999
Asia/Political Science
Hb 1 85649 659 7 £50.00 $69.95
Pb 1 85649 660 0 £19.95 $29.95
544pp Maps Glossary of Terms Acronyms Charts Notes Index  Royal

Sales
ZED BOOKS, 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF
Tel: 0171 837 8466; Fax: 0171 833 3960
email: sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Zed Web Site: http://www.zedbooks.demon.co.uk

For orders in the USA, please contact:
Sales, St Martin's Press,
Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
or phone toll-free (800) 221 7945 ext. 270

*****************************************************





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